Your favorite bread to bake?
What is your current or all-time favorite loaf to bake? I just happen to be on a brioche kick right now since I took a class last month. I have been trying to achieve ultimate "Brioche-ocity" for the last several years and I thought I had it knocked with the French CIA book my hubby got me for Christmas, until I took this class. I'm lucky to live close to a premier bakery/deli that has all kinds of baking classes. I know depending on many mitigating factors, it may not always come out with the same results, but today was kismet. Hubby is still smiling; he's a little carboholic
Challah and French have always been my favorites, because I've made them so many times, they normally turn out well for me. They are dependable standards at our house. Also,I love to bake a nice hearty whole grain loaf and throw in whatever grains, seeds, nuts, etc. I happen to have around.
Do you have a particular type of bread you enjoy making? Is it from a newer cookbook or a family heirloom recipe? Yeast or quick bread?
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22 Comments:
In that I find myself making it more often than any other recipe, I suppose English Muffin Bread, based on a recipe that came with my KitchenAid mixer, is my favorite.
I like to have a loaf on hand, or at least in the freezer, because it makes such great toast.
srhcb at 3:27PM on 03/09/08
i can turn out a pretty good loaf of challah, although the texture is never quite what i'd like. it's always tender when what i'd really like is more chewiness and pull. the best thing i do is dinner rolls from an old sunset cookbook. i just made a batch yesterday, in fact, for some friends who came over for dinner. they're unbelievably delicious, but then they have a quarter of a cup of sugar and almost two sticks of butter in them.
i'm interested in doing some whole grain bread -- i adored the bread in germany, which is full of grains and seeds, and never bitter and dry, the way our whole wheat bread here seems to be. got a recipe you could share?
cybercita at 4:23PM on 03/09/08
I love making focaccia bread. But not to change the subject...
@srhcb....My Kitchen Aid mixer came with a cookbook but I just looked and it didn't come with a English Muffin Bread recipe. Two Questions 1.) Is it as good as the English Muffin Bread at Trader Joe's? and 2.) Are you willing to share the recipe? It would probably save me alot of money. Please I'm begging you *also giving you puppy dog eyes...
evilchefmom at 8:59PM on 03/09/08
Sourdough makes me happy.
Other than that, I have a basic bread recipe that never quite is the same because I always, always, always add something to it. Sometimes its as simple as a little bit of herbs, and sometimes it touches on madness...
But a half-cup of peanut butter added to a bread recipe can be a very good thing.
dbcurrie at 12:08AM on 03/10/08
A simple banana nut bread. mmmmmm
machellebelle at 1:36AM on 03/10/08
I dont make alot of bread but since Easter is coming its time to pull out my favorite Portugese sweet bread recipe and go with it. YUMMMMM
huney_bumper at 7:57AM on 03/10/08
The bread I make regularly is the oatmeal variation of the basic yeasted bread in the Tassajara Bread Book. I have been making it for 35 years, give or take. I never include the dry milk and rarely anywhere near the full measure of sweetening. The recipe makes 4 loaves, which justifies the time needed to make real (well naturally leavened sourdough is more real but usually ends in tears) bread.
When company is coming for dinner I make Basic French Bread from the Baba a Louis Bread Book.
cooknclean at 9:25AM on 03/10/08
Focaccia. I add whatever is handy when I am making mine. Sometimes, I make it plain and after I bake it, (think comfort food here), I mix finely chopped garlic, some fresh herbs and a little bit of butter and spread over the bread, then I put a layer of provolone and put it back in the oven until the cheese melts. When we lived in Michigan, we would go to a restaurant in Saugatuck and they would make the tinned dinner rolls baked with lots of butter, garlic and provolone. Never will forget those!
crazyspice at 10:01AM on 03/10/08
I have two, actually. My favorite quick bread is a really nice whole wheat version of irish soda bread, which is right in season right now, so I am going to make that one this week sometime. I usually try to add some mixed dried fruits and walnuts to it, just to add a little flavor.
Also, my favorite yeast bread (and quite possibly my favorite bread of all time) is a pumpkin spice bread. It's really labor intensive when you look at the recipe, but I have been known to actually eat more than I should and get sick from it. So, I have had to take to cutting it up and indivudally wrap the slices in tin foil and stick them in the freezer. That way, not only do I have to wait for them to thaw, but I can't just stick them in the microwave to do it! It really helps....most of the time.... :)
Traveller at 10:21AM on 03/10/08
Current fave is a "Zillion Grain Bread" I rescued from a user-contributed recipe website about 4 years ago. I was looking to finish a bunch of little bags of grains and flour I had leftover from Christmas that year and I printed this recipe that seemed to meet my ingredient criteria. Geez, was that recipe terrible! It's a very loose "batter" yeast bread but it's grainy and moist - and makes great toast.
I really love to knead bread. Let's face it, the kneading part is half the therapy in bread baking, a quarter is patience (rising time) and the other quarter is reward (the eating!). I haven't been making many kneaded yeast breads lately but my WW pizza dough is good for a nice long knead.
chiff0nade at 11:39AM on 03/10/08
My favorite quick bread is cornbread. At least, that's the one I make most frequently, and the one I am constantly asked to make and document for others. I also really like beer bread, ideally made with whole wheat flour, and not sweet. And banana bread. Followed closely by pumpkin bread.
OK. Maybe I just like quick breads. I mean, what's not to like???
On the yeast bread front, I don't have a current fave, although I have been trying to get cinnamon raisin bread just right (it likes to overrise). And, when I was previously obsessed with breadmaking (about 100 years ago), I had one white bread and one whole wheat bread that I made all the time. But, since I've only just recently rejoined the yeast working ranks (thanks to the stand mixer Santa brought me for Christmas... woohoo!), I haven't yet settled on one that thrills me. This is partly due to being focused on learning how to make bread with a stand mixer, a device I'd never even turned on before, much less actually used. Yes, I was a stand mixer virgin.
I'm getting ready to venture into the world of sponge starter breads. And I'm ordering a pullman pan to see if I can recreate that wonderful dense, square sandwich bread from my childhood. Guess I'll have check back later to give a real answer!
LoCo at 11:59AM on 03/10/08
I love the pecan-and-raisin bread in Rose Levy Berenbaum's The Bread Bible. It is dense and chewy and so flavorful that it doesn't even need anything -- but a schmear of cream cheese seems to always make it onto a slice of mine.
Dominic
the zen kitchen
dvchurch at 1:33PM on 03/10/08
I love making corn bread. Either plain, or with corn added, or with jalapeno and sharp cheddar.
I can make a mean sourdough, but I can also walk around the corner from my house and buy sourdough that's just as good as what I come up with with my tenderly cared for starter, and kneading, etc., so I tend to just go out and buy it.
chisai at 9:28PM on 03/10/08
Traveller, I would love to see your recipe for whole wheat quick bread!
Christina at 10:43PM on 03/10/08
The one I've been making a lot lately is the Best Bread Ever from the Best Bread Ever cookbook. It makes wonderful baguettes using the food processor. I love kneading bread, too, but this turns out so beautifully I forgive that the machine does the work. Only change I make is using 100% whole wheat flour and add a touch more water and putting suflower and flax seeds on the top.
Just last weekend I made a 10 grain, wheat/no white flour bread that turned out fantastic. Just figured out that I can stuff more seeds/grains/nuts into my bread by adding a little vital wheat gluten to help it hold together and get a better rise out of it so it's not too dense (1 tsp per cup of flour/grains).
I used to make an olive oil, raisin walnut wheat bread all the time. I miss it. Maybe I'll make it next weekend.
For hiking/snowshoeing my current favorite is a spicy whole wheat, prune and pecan quick bread. All the energy of a Clif bar but yummier. Spiced like gingerbread with lots of prunes: half pureed so I don't have to add any fat and the other half in chunks. Pecans because I love them. So yummy. But very potent. I eat this when I'm burning major calories to keep me going.
I've been eyeing a yeasted fig and almond bread recipe in The Bread Bible. I just don't know how well it would play with whole wheat. Maybe a white whole wheat. Too many breads, not enough meals!
I rarely make a white flour bread. Personal preference.
dafly133 at 4:19PM on 03/11/08
Oh, my gosh, you all have given me such great inspiration. I would really like to find a recipe that would give me a great, moist, sort of sweet loaf like "Milton's". I just love that stuff. I usually buy it at TJ or Costco. I eat it just plain or a thin spread of pb. (Zillion grain bread?)
I also have a recipe for an oatmeal-prune quick bread that I got from a Farm Journal cookbook back in the 70's. I've probably made that and variations of it hundreds of times. And it is stellar toasted with a bit of butter and honey. And a whole wheat/wheat germ banana bread I've probably made a million times. I can almost make it in my sleep.
@LoCo - I have been looking for the perfect pumpkin bread recipe for a while now. I pretty much perfected the crunchy streusel topping, but wasn't all that pleased with the actual bread. I've used so many recipes and tested and tried. I beg of you - help!?!? Pumpkin is so nutritious and I promised myself I was going to cook with it a lot more. I NEED your recipe!
@Traveller - Pumpkin Spice Bread recipe! Please!!!
And focaccia, it's one of my husband's faves. Just like the one you can get at Biaggi Restaurant.
My paternal grandmother (who came over on the boat from Hungary) used to make a sweet bread called kolache. It was between a challah and a brioche. Sometimes she made it plain and other times, with raisins. At one point, I decided, for posterity, that I needed to document the measurements, rather than guessing at the handfuls and pinches and squinches. I "forced" her to throw the handfuls on a waxed paper, rather than in the bowl, so I could dutifully measure out ingredients. God bless her for her indulgence. It is my heirloom bread recipe and I just recently realized how many years it has been since I've made it. Every year at Easter time, I make an heirloom bread or pastry recipe from mom or one of my grandmothers. The recipes are really precious to me and bring back so many special memories..
frederika at 11:19PM on 03/11/08
@frederika... OMG!!! You've gotta be s'n me... your grandmother came on a boat from HUNGARY??? No way... my Great Grandmother did too!!! Wow... that is just SO weird...
I'll post my punkin bread recipe (see sandwich thread for explanation of spelling... yes, that's how I say it)... give me a few days. I was just going to make a batch and realized I've got three recipes and can't remember which one is the "right" one...
Also, do you like punkinpie? That one I can provide now. And I like to bake it as a custard (sans patisserie), which is actually really nutritious.
Wow. Hungary. I'm just speechless (shocking, i know)
LoCo at 12:11AM on 03/12/08
@LoCo - Yup, the paternal grandparents came over on "the" boat. I really don't know which "boat" they are always referring to, but - fo real! I adore punkinpie, however the hubby is not a fan. He's not a fan of anything sweet, really. Therein lies the problem. I love making desserts and pastries, but I have to find somewhere to ship 7/8ths of the remains when I get in the mood to bake something I have a hankerin' for. He does eat breads though, and "punkin" is acceptable in his world. I like one that is not too dense - kind of cakey - but sturdy enough to hold up to a schmear of cream cheese, if I so desire..
I also have a cranberry-orange bread recipe that is lowfat and astoundingly delicious and flavorful. I normally make that around the holidays when we can get fresh cranberries here in the midwest. Do you make any of the traditional Hungarian pastries like nut or poppyseed rolls? My Hungarian grandma made the yeast dough ones and my Slovak grandma (who did not come over on a boat of any kind) made the butter and sour cream dough. Both equally wonderful.
It's a small world, huh? Guess what else? Several of my cousins on the Hungarian side of the family live in CA! San Fran, the last I heard. xoxo
frederika at 1:31AM on 03/12/08
For quick breads, my favorite is a tie between banana bread and pumpkin bread. I use a lot of cinnamon and spices as I like it nice and spicy!
I also love to make pretzel rolls which make for the best sandwichesI can imagine.
sharsd at 5:50PM on 03/12/08
@sharsd - Do you use the "Bretzel" recipe? It was an old Bon Appetit recipe from back in the day.
frederika at 11:07PM on 03/12/08
frederika, for heaven's sake, please quit teasing me and post that cranberry orange bread recipe!
cybercita at 12:24AM on 03/13/08
@cybercita - This Cranberry-Orange Bread is awesome and low fat.
2 lg oranges
2 c ap flour
3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 T veg or canola oil
1 egg
1 1/2 c fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 c walnuts, chopped
Grease 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grate 1 T peel and squeeze 3/4 c juice from oranges. Set aside. In large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat oil, egg and orange juice until blended; stir into flour mixture just until all flour is moistened. Gently stir in cranberries, walnuts and peel. Spon batter evenly into loaf pan. Bake 70 min. or until done by toothpick test. Cool 10 min. in pan then remove from pan to rack. Makes 1 loaf or 12 muffins (approx 25 min. baking time for muffins). About 200 cal. per serving.
Bon appetit!
frederika at 10:35PM on 03/13/08